Samsung Galaxy A36 5G A Series, 128GB Unlocked Android Smartphone, AMOLED Display, Rugged Design, 5G Connectivity, Affordable Performance, US Version, 2025, US 1 Yr Warranty,… by Samsung

Bought this phone as a backup for a recent trip. Didn’t want to risk my main phone getting stolen or confiscated because reasons. I’ll just cover the main points that some people might care about..

Camera:
Since I was bringing an actual camera, I didn’t care too much about the camera performance in the Galaxy A36. I had low expectations from such a budget phone. However, the camera performed surprisingly well. It does struggle during indoor low light situations. But pictures taken at night surrounded by city lights looked great. The reason is that the camera does a lot of internal processing and adjusts the brightness/contrast/etc for you. On the flagship Galaxy phones, you can actually control the amount of auto post processing or turn it off. But on the A36, it applies the maximum processing and you can’t change it. Video performance is very good. However, you’re limited in changing some settings. Maximum resolution is 4K but you’re stuck at 30 FPS and can’t be changed to a higher or lower frame rate. Also you can’t use the wide lens. So if you’re taking video, you may need take a few steps back to get the entire scene.

Processor:
Despite the lower CPU and RAM specs, it performed well. I mostly used Google Maps to help me get around town and it did not stutter. Also used IG and Lightroom for image editing without any issues. I don’t game at all on my phones, but I would not recommend gaming on this due to the lower specs. Probably livestreaming is not a great idea either.

Screen:
Screen is bright and clear. I don’t watch movies on my phone, so I can’t comment on that. But it’s fine for web surfing and social media. I did notice some lag or sensitivity issues though. If you’re a fast typer on the screen, this might be an issue for you.

Glitches:
Only glitch I’ve experienced was with the orientation sensor. When I launch the camera and rotate the phone to landscape, the camera is stuck in portrait. I have to tap or shake the phone few times and then it finally rotates. Same thing when using maps/navigation. The dashboard on my rental car tilts forward. So the phone screen “flipped” the app upside down. When I picked the phone up to get the right orientation, it took a full minute. Maybe I got a dud unit.

Talk:
I didn’t use this phone at all for voice calls. So I can’t comment on the sound quality.

Build Quality:
It’s plastic. I wish more phones were made of plastic. Glass back phones look pretty but they also add weight and fragility. The A36 is very light and easy to hold.

Overall:
Not a bad phone for the price range. Probably not fair to compare it to the main Galaxy S phones, but if I had to do it again, I’d probably get a used Galaxy S23. Since this is just a backup phone for me, I’ll likely hold on to it.

Got it at a nice price during Prime days, which made the investment (for me) possible. Great screen and camera, nice and stable operation. I don’t play games on it, so haven’t stressed its capabilities. Very happy with extended software support, so plan to use it for a number of years. HOWEVER, I really wish it had more than 6GB RAM (an 8GB model is supposed to be released later this year in the US, to match the rest of the world). Still, I wish it had 12GB+, which would give me more confidence in its long-term viability. I would NOT consider the international version if you’re in the US. After looking up the frequencies the international model can access and those that T-Mobile operates on, there seems to be no overlap. Specifically look up the frequencies for other carriers. I really wanted an A56, but no US model was available. This A36 seems to be a good compromise, with a lot of A56 capabilities.